New £23 Million Programme to Support for Neighbourhood Planning Re-opens for Applications (England)

From the 3rd April 2018, local community forums and parish councils are able to apply for basic grants of up to £9,000 (plus an additional £8,000 if they meet certain criteria) through the new £23 million My Community and Neighbourhood Planning programme.

The new programme will run from 2018 – 2022.

Over the last four years the previous the My Community and Neighbourhood Planning supported over 2,300 local groups to develop a Neighbourhood Plan or Neighbourhood Development Order. The new programme will be introducing some important changes.

The funding is available to Town or Parish Councils, where they exist. In areas that are unparished, applicants will need to put in place a Neighbourhood Forum.

Any grant support received by applicants through the old programme in the 2015-2018 programme will be taken into account when assessing how much grant they can apply for through the new programme 2018 – 2022. For example, if the applicant is only eligible for Basic Grant and have already received and spent £5,000 in the 2015-2018 programme then they will only be able to apply for up to £4,000 from the new programme.

There is also technical support available to groups facing complex problems.

Organisations wishing to apply should in the first instance is to submit an Expression of Interest form. Once the applicants completes and submits their Expression of Interest (EOI), a link to a personalised application will be sent to their email address within one working day.